


The Conditions of Ingrith's Release

by WotanAnubis



Category: Maleficent (Disney Movies)
Genre: Curses, Dark Fey Ingrith, Gen, Two People Chatting, gloating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 10:57:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21409063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WotanAnubis/pseuds/WotanAnubis
Summary: In which Ingrith's punishment involves more than just getting turned into a goat.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 65





	The Conditions of Ingrith's Release

**Author's Note:**

> I can't be the only one who felt Ingrith got off lightly at the end of _Mistress of Evil_ can I?

Ingrith awoke on... no, this wasn't a pile of straw. This felt more like leaves against her bare skin. Skin? Not hide?

She opened her eyes and found that she had indeed been sleeping on a pile of green leaves. More than that, when she looked down she found she had arms again, and hands, rather than legs and hooves.

Part of Ingrith felt she should be overjoyed to be human once more. That she was no longer a goat. And yet she didn't quite not what to feel. She wasn't sure this was real. Was this a dream? It didn't feel like a dream. But then, dreams didn't feel like dreams when one was dreaming.

Looking around, Ingrith saw that she was definitely not in a barn any more. Sure, the walls were wood like her barn had been, but these were rough bark. There was also a large and vaguely circular hole that had to be the door.

She was in a tree, then. So these must be the Moors. Although these days, the difference between the Moors and Ulstead were hard to spot.

Ingrith rose and heard something drag along the floor behind her. She turned sharply, on to see white feathers sweep behind her back.

Wings. She had wings.

With shaking hands, Ingrith reached up to her head to look for what she already knew she would find there. Within moments, her fingertips met something hard and curved.

Horns.

This was Maleficent's work. It had to be. Apparently, she hadn't been humiliated enough already by spending she didn't know how long as a goat, now she'd _dared_ to turn her-

"Good morning!"

A pale shape with large black wings appeared in the tree opening. Maleficent's radiant smile seemed friendly enough, but Ingrith was an experienced enough with deceit to notice the mocking edges.

"Come to gloat, have you?" Ingrith demanded.

"Honestly, yes," said Maleficent. "But I'm also here to clarify one or two things."

Maleficent beat her wings to remain hovering just outside the doorway.

"Let me guess, you turned me into a monster so I'd gain sympathy for your kind?" Ingrith demanded.

"Not at all," said Maleficent, "I turned you into a Dark Fey. Your body, anyway."

"I'm in no mood for word games," Ingrith said.

"But you're so very good at them," Maleficent replied.

"Look, turn me back into a human or turn me back into a goat, if you must, but I'll not live like this."

"Because of you," Maleficent said, acid dripping from every syllable, "many won't live at all. So you don't get to make demands. Frankly, you got off lightly."

Ingrith glared at her. "I did what I-"

Maleficent waved a dismissive hand. "Spare me your attempts at justifying yourself. You can't. Look, here's how it's going to be. You've been exiled from Ulstead. However, your banishment will be lifted the day you can walk back across the bridge as a human."

"So I'll have to beg and grovel for you to turn me back, is that it? I won't do it."

"I don't expect you to," said Maleficent. "And anyway, I can't turn you back. I've cursed you, you see. And the rather unfortunate fact is that I'm not capable of simply cancelling my own curses. Your curse will simply have to be broken."

"By true love's kiss?" Ingrith said icily.

Maleficent smiled broadly. "Oh, no, I did want to give you a chance. No, the conditions for lifting this curse are much different."

"And they are?"

"My little secret," said Maleficent.

"Now look here," Ingrith spat, striding towards Maleficent, "you can't just-"

Ingrith stopped short at the entrance. As it turned out, her room was very high up in a tree and outside there was only air and a very long way down. Maleficent floated gracefully in the sky, her wings beating once or twice.

"Don't worry, it's not a prison," Maleficent said. "You have wings now, after all. You can just fly away if it pleases you."

Ingrith stared down pensively at the depths. She was aware of some unfamiliar muscles in her back, and if she tried she could tense them and feel her wings shifting. But that wasn't nearly good enough for flight.

"Well this has all been very enjoyable," Maleficent said, slowly moving further and further away from the tree. "But I can't spend all day chatting with you. I have things to do. But don't worry, some children will soon be along with some breakfast for you. And, if you ask very nicely, they might even agree to give you flying lessons."

With that, Maleficent turned around and flew off. Her laughter echoed in Ingrith's horned skull for minutes afterward.

* * * * *

"I rather enjoyed that," Maleficent remarked.

"Enjoyed what?"

Maleficent glanced aside to discover she was no longer flying alone. Diaval was industriously flapping his wings to keep up with her.

"Ah, Diaval. I just welcomed Ingrith into our happy little family."

"Right, so I've heard," Diaval remarked. "Do you really think this is a good idea?"

"No, not particularly. But she's Phillip's mother and Aurora insisted there must be some good in her somewhere. So here we are. And there she is."

"You could have just left her as a goat," said Diaval.

"I considered it. But was that a fitting punishment? Does she not deserve a chance to redeem herself?"

"I don't know actually," said Diaval. "I think some people go so far, it's not possible for them to come back from it."

Maleficent would have shrugged if she hadn't been in mid-flight. "Mmm. Well. That's up to her I suppose."

"Although," Diaval ventured carefully, "there is one thing I'm curious about."

"Yes?"

"You've cursed Ingrith, right?"

"Indeed."

"So how would that curse be broken?"

Maleficent considered whether to tell him or not for a moment or two. She didn't really want the secret to get out, but then again, she was also still in something of a gloating mood.

"Alright, I'll tell you, but you're not to tell anyone else. Understood? Not even Aurora."

"Right, I promise," Diaval said quickly.

"Right," Maleficent said. "Ingrith's curse will be lifted on the day where she has lost all interest in ever becoming human again because she has come to accept herself as a Dark Fey."

Maleficent and Diaval flew in silence for a while. Maleficent glanced at her raven companion, amused by the look on his face as he tried to work out how he felt about this.

"Well," Diaval said at last, "and here I was thinking you were finally going soft."


End file.
